The present invention generally relates to semiconductor manufacturing, and more particularly to improving wafer temperature measurements during high density plasma (HDP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of dielectric films.
Microelectronic devices are generally fabricated on substrates such as, for example, silicon wafers, using a variety of processing methods including numerous deposition and removal techniques. During the semiconductor fabrication process, various layers of a conductor film and a dielectric film may be deposited on the substrate to form most of the electrical interconnects on a multilevel integrated-circuit chip. Generally, the dielectric film may include a silicon-based dielectric material such as silicon oxide, hydrogenated silicon carbon oxide, and other silicon-based low-k dielectrics. The conductor film may typically include an aluminum-based or a copper-based metal.
In submicron device manufacturing, a high density plasma (HDP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process may be conducted to form the dielectric film on the substrate. This type of plasma deposition process may generate large amounts of heat which may require careful temperature monitoring during processing of the substrate since a substantial temperature increase may cause significant damage to particularly aluminum-based electrical interconnects, negatively impacting product yield and reliability.